Benetton will replace disparate legacy systems with SAP, giving it better product planning, sourcing, distribution, and supply-chain visibility. SAP has signed 14 shoe and clothing retailers as new customers this year, including Brioni, Fila, Fossil, and Levi Strauss. With IT budgets trimmed, many retailers choose a modular approach, which favors large ERP vendors, says Tom Compernolle, a retail consultant at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
SAP brought supply-chain efficiencies that helped Bruno Magli U.S. deal with 30% sales increases while cutting inventory by half, president Peter Grueterich says. Everyone at the shoemaker, he says, "breathes and lives SAP."